Emma Adelaide Lacey
Why do we get so much more involved in the lives of some of our ancestors than others? So it is with my great great grandmother Emma Adelaide Lacey. Emma had a reputation for speaking her mind and ever since my great aunt described her as a little old, but stately lady in her lace mop hat, she has intrigued me.
It took me some time to find Emma’s birthplace in the beautiful Blackmore Vale which lies partly in southern Somerset and partly in northern Dorset. If you have read any of Thomas Hardy’s books you will recognize the district as the “Vale of the little dairies”.
It took me some time to find Emma’s birthplace in the beautiful Blackmore Vale which lies partly in southern Somerset and partly in northern Dorset. If you have read any of Thomas Hardy’s books you will recognize the district as the “Vale of the little dairies”.
Emma was born in 1833 just before the reign of Queen Victoria in the Parish of Henstridge in Somerset which at that time had a population of about 1000. Only a few of the residents lived in the cottages on the main road which lead from Bath to Poole, just to the south of its intersection with the London to Exeter road. Most of the population was spread among the small farms of the district. The fertile rolling downs and river meadows of the Blackmore Vale still lend themselves to dairying as they did then. Butter was the staple produce of the area, which was shipped to London in barrels.
However, it was a time of change in rural areas of England. A depression associated with a fall in demand after the Napoleonic wars and an overabundance of agricultural labour and poor rates of pay left many areas in a state of simmering revolt. Henstridge was not alone, with the smashing of a threshing machine in December 1830 following riots in nearby Stalbridge. The ups and downs in fortune were reflected in Emma’s extended family. Families which had owned or been tenants of good sized farms, were forced into other occupations and businesses or joined the growing ranks of underemployed rural labour force.
Emma was born and raised with her brother George in the village itself. They were both baptized in the ancient stone church of Saint Nicholas. Their father Charles Lacey was a butcher (and sometime horse dealer) when he married eighteen year old Martha Sampson Lewis. Martha was the daughter of the local bootmaker, John Lewis and his wife Betty Sansom. Charles and Martha married in Fisherton Anger (Salisbury) some miles distant in Wiltshire where the local vicar was renowned for turning a blind eye to the odd under aged bride! Did Martha’s parents not approve of Charles, fourteen years her senior?
Whilst Martha’s Sansom & Chant family came from Henstridge, Charles had been born not long after the turn of the century at Stock Gaylard near Lydlinch, which is some four to five miles to the south in Dorset. Here, his father George was farmer probably with his own father Robert at Stock house itself. Robert rented his land from the manor house incumbent, John Berkeley Burland and his descendants.
Sometime before 1830, Charles rented a house, orchard and slaughter-yard at Henstridge from his uncle, Robert Antell, later buying it from Robert’s widow, his Aunt Priscilla.
Martha’s father John Lewis followed the trade of her paternal grandfather Matthew Lewis who had also been a bootmaker or cordwainer from Marnhull a village not far to the east known to readers of Thomas Hardy as “Marlott” home of "Tess of the d'Urbervilles".
Emma and her brother may have been educated by Charles Lacey’s aunt, Jemima Jacob the local schoolmistress at nearby Yenston and later at Henstridge. Perhaps it was in her classroom that she developed her neat handwriting. Another aunt, Caroline Bugg was wife of a local farmer Anthony Bugg.
The 1841 census shows the Lewis family and Martha’s seventy-five year old uncle John Sansom (and son John) living next to the Laceys with the children’s other grandmother Deborah Lacey not far away.
The Lacey family became part of the urban drift to London in 1849, possibly following a series of poor seasons. Charles became a publican in Waterloo and it is here that Emma met her husband George Adams, a wine cooper. They were married in January 1850 at St James Waterloo. Emma was just seventeen.
Emigration
At this time maybe Charles was in contact with his father’s youngest brother, Joseph Lacey who was close to him in age and whom he must surely have known in Henstridge. Joseph and his family had emigrated first to Western Australia on the “Rockingham” in 1830, later moving to Tasmania. Anyway Charles, his wife Martha, son George and George Adams & Emma were soon emigrating south too.
The family bought their own “intermediate” passages out to Australia on the “Stebonheath”which left Gravesend later in the year on June 1st. The trip was uneventful and the “Stebonheath” arrived safely at Port Adelaide, South Australia on Sunday the 15th September. The family may have intended going on to Port Phillip straight away but Emma & George were certainly in Adelaide for the birth of their daughter Emma Marion on 21st of October. Sadly Emma’s baby died soon after. A second daughter Caroline Mary was born the following year.
By 1852 the family had moved to Melbourne and there the loss of little Caroline also.
However, it was a time of change in rural areas of England. A depression associated with a fall in demand after the Napoleonic wars and an overabundance of agricultural labour and poor rates of pay left many areas in a state of simmering revolt. Henstridge was not alone, with the smashing of a threshing machine in December 1830 following riots in nearby Stalbridge. The ups and downs in fortune were reflected in Emma’s extended family. Families which had owned or been tenants of good sized farms, were forced into other occupations and businesses or joined the growing ranks of underemployed rural labour force.
Emma was born and raised with her brother George in the village itself. They were both baptized in the ancient stone church of Saint Nicholas. Their father Charles Lacey was a butcher (and sometime horse dealer) when he married eighteen year old Martha Sampson Lewis. Martha was the daughter of the local bootmaker, John Lewis and his wife Betty Sansom. Charles and Martha married in Fisherton Anger (Salisbury) some miles distant in Wiltshire where the local vicar was renowned for turning a blind eye to the odd under aged bride! Did Martha’s parents not approve of Charles, fourteen years her senior?
Whilst Martha’s Sansom & Chant family came from Henstridge, Charles had been born not long after the turn of the century at Stock Gaylard near Lydlinch, which is some four to five miles to the south in Dorset. Here, his father George was farmer probably with his own father Robert at Stock house itself. Robert rented his land from the manor house incumbent, John Berkeley Burland and his descendants.
Sometime before 1830, Charles rented a house, orchard and slaughter-yard at Henstridge from his uncle, Robert Antell, later buying it from Robert’s widow, his Aunt Priscilla.
Martha’s father John Lewis followed the trade of her paternal grandfather Matthew Lewis who had also been a bootmaker or cordwainer from Marnhull a village not far to the east known to readers of Thomas Hardy as “Marlott” home of "Tess of the d'Urbervilles".
Emma and her brother may have been educated by Charles Lacey’s aunt, Jemima Jacob the local schoolmistress at nearby Yenston and later at Henstridge. Perhaps it was in her classroom that she developed her neat handwriting. Another aunt, Caroline Bugg was wife of a local farmer Anthony Bugg.
The 1841 census shows the Lewis family and Martha’s seventy-five year old uncle John Sansom (and son John) living next to the Laceys with the children’s other grandmother Deborah Lacey not far away.
The Lacey family became part of the urban drift to London in 1849, possibly following a series of poor seasons. Charles became a publican in Waterloo and it is here that Emma met her husband George Adams, a wine cooper. They were married in January 1850 at St James Waterloo. Emma was just seventeen.
Emigration
At this time maybe Charles was in contact with his father’s youngest brother, Joseph Lacey who was close to him in age and whom he must surely have known in Henstridge. Joseph and his family had emigrated first to Western Australia on the “Rockingham” in 1830, later moving to Tasmania. Anyway Charles, his wife Martha, son George and George Adams & Emma were soon emigrating south too.
The family bought their own “intermediate” passages out to Australia on the “Stebonheath”which left Gravesend later in the year on June 1st. The trip was uneventful and the “Stebonheath” arrived safely at Port Adelaide, South Australia on Sunday the 15th September. The family may have intended going on to Port Phillip straight away but Emma & George were certainly in Adelaide for the birth of their daughter Emma Marion on 21st of October. Sadly Emma’s baby died soon after. A second daughter Caroline Mary was born the following year.
By 1852 the family had moved to Melbourne and there the loss of little Caroline also.
Sandhurst
Gold Fever now gripped Victoria. The rush was on to the succession of Gold Fields being discovered in the hinterland. George & Emma became part of that great mass which headed to Sandhurst(now Bendigo). Whether George tried his hand in searching for gold is unknown but by the time their son Charles was born in 1854 he was working as a butcher. Another son William Charles was born the following year but both children died which was hardly surprising given the rough conditions of the mining town of that time. Housing was in tents or quickly erected slab huts at best, water of dubious quantity and quality.
It was around this period that Emma met William Tyson who together with his brothers James & John had themselves just sold a very successful wholesale butchering operation in Sandhurst. Family lore has it that William traded Emma for a bullock team & wagon! Although William was twenty-four years her senior and only a few years younger than her own father, it was to be an enduring match.
Children Isabella, Thomas Lacey, and Fanny were all born in Bendigo before William installed Emma as Mrs Tyson at “Geramy” his station on the Lachlan near Oxley. A complicating factor, apart from the obvious George, was William’s wife Margaret (nee Cantillon) whom he had married back in 1838 and with whom he had had six children! Margaret was left in Bendigo with her children.
It was in 1857 that first records show that Emma’s parents Charles & Martha were also living in White Hills near Bendigo but they may have been there before this. Charles returned to his trade as butcher which he continued until Martha’s death in 1867 when he joined the Tysons at “Geramy”. It is here that he was buried in October1876.
Several more children were born to William & Emma including my own great grandfather, John.
The boys were to be a great support to Em when William died in 1795 on a trip up to Queensland. William left his affairs in the hands of his brother James, not a happy arrangement for Emma! Despite Emma’s misgivings, James provided jobs and opportunities for the children.
Emma continued living at “Geramy” until her death in May 1915. She is buried there with her father. Her two youngest boys Albert Arthur & Gordon William, and daughter Emma remained at “Geramy” unmarried until they died.
Gold Fever now gripped Victoria. The rush was on to the succession of Gold Fields being discovered in the hinterland. George & Emma became part of that great mass which headed to Sandhurst(now Bendigo). Whether George tried his hand in searching for gold is unknown but by the time their son Charles was born in 1854 he was working as a butcher. Another son William Charles was born the following year but both children died which was hardly surprising given the rough conditions of the mining town of that time. Housing was in tents or quickly erected slab huts at best, water of dubious quantity and quality.
It was around this period that Emma met William Tyson who together with his brothers James & John had themselves just sold a very successful wholesale butchering operation in Sandhurst. Family lore has it that William traded Emma for a bullock team & wagon! Although William was twenty-four years her senior and only a few years younger than her own father, it was to be an enduring match.
Children Isabella, Thomas Lacey, and Fanny were all born in Bendigo before William installed Emma as Mrs Tyson at “Geramy” his station on the Lachlan near Oxley. A complicating factor, apart from the obvious George, was William’s wife Margaret (nee Cantillon) whom he had married back in 1838 and with whom he had had six children! Margaret was left in Bendigo with her children.
It was in 1857 that first records show that Emma’s parents Charles & Martha were also living in White Hills near Bendigo but they may have been there before this. Charles returned to his trade as butcher which he continued until Martha’s death in 1867 when he joined the Tysons at “Geramy”. It is here that he was buried in October1876.
Several more children were born to William & Emma including my own great grandfather, John.
The boys were to be a great support to Em when William died in 1795 on a trip up to Queensland. William left his affairs in the hands of his brother James, not a happy arrangement for Emma! Despite Emma’s misgivings, James provided jobs and opportunities for the children.
Emma continued living at “Geramy” until her death in May 1915. She is buried there with her father. Her two youngest boys Albert Arthur & Gordon William, and daughter Emma remained at “Geramy” unmarried until they died.
